Page 69 of Wolf Trial

VERNE

Everything fell apart all at once. Lainsz yelled our names in a ragged scream. The tentative grip I had on the hag slid away, and she wrestled her way free of Leander’s jaw, not caring about the jagged trails his teeth left in her arm.

The brown and black wolf that had appeared from nowhere to help us lunged at her, managing to snap its jaws around the hag’s ankle. I didn’t know who this was, what pack they belonged to, or why they were helping us, but I was so grateful for the assistance that I didn’t care. With Sadie injured, I would’ve accepted help even from my worst enemy.

I scrambled off the ground, shifting in a rush, and ran on two legs towards where Lainsz hid in the shadows of the trees. Invisible, but I could sense him through the bond— and now that I was reaching for those pack bonds, I felt Sadie.

Cold. As frozen as this forest in winter. I ran faster, panic making it impossible to pull air into my lungs as I crossed the clearing, passing the well that had hidden the hag for God knows how long. Leander was right behind me, a whine leaving him as he sensed what I did from our mate.

“What happened?” he demanded, running faster, his long legs eating up the ground.

I caught up to him just as we reached the shadows where Lainsz and Sadie had retreated to. The sight of her pale face, blue lips, and limp, unconscious body made me itch to throw my fist into the nearest tree. The effort of restraining myself made me shake where I had frozen, staring at her.

“No,” Leander blurted, stumbling closer and reaching for her face, flinching. I knew what had met his hand. Cold, dead skin.

“She’s still alive” Lainsz told us, every word snapped and rough. “But barely. That bastard must have stabbed her with silver.”

I inhaled so sharply that I choked on air. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t get control of my hands to stop them shaking. We’d just found her. We hadn’t even had time to prove that she could trust us. I’d planned to take my time, to let her come to her own conclusions that not only were we safe, but we would adore her forever.

We’d had no time at all. This wasn’t fair.

“Get her to the cottage,” I rasped, completely helpless to think of any other ideas. Every word caught in my throat as it emerged. “ Leander, how soon could your sister arrive?”

He shook his head, as helpless as I felt. “Hours.”

“Sadie doesn’t have hours,” I bit out. Too harsh. I wanted to apologise, but Lainsz was already speaking.

“Then we’ll just have to make sure she has hours,“ he said with vicious determination—the kind that would not bend, would never break. He would not accept death from Sadie, would not accept defeat from us.

“How?” Leander asked despairingly.

I wished I had answers, wished I knew what to do, but all I could do was stare at the face of my dying mate. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I swore some of the cold from her bond had bled into my skin, freezing my face until I could barely feel it.

“Cottage,” I reminded them, already heading into the trees in the direction of our home. If Sadie survived this, as Lainsz appeared to think she would, I would never let her out of my sight again. But I didn’t have the hope to believe that was even a remote possibility.

All I could do was put one foot in front of the other, until I was running, until we all were.

I didn’t look back to see what happened to the wolf who helped us, or Sadie’s friends. None of that mattered. Only her. Only my mate.

CHAPTER 41

LEANDER

Isat on the floor with my back to the wall beside the fireplace, staring across at where Sadie slept on the sofa, as comfortable as we could make her. We couldn’t take her upstairs, with the risk that the chill would take her from us. She would fade soon, I could sense it. The thin sliver of life that she clung to was fading.

It had been hours, and it was a miracle that she held on this long at all. But I didn’t know how much longer it would take for my sister to get here. Lucira was the healer of our pack, and the only person we knew who could treat silver burns this extensive. Poison that reached far beyond skin into heart and soul and blood.

It had been hours, but it would only be minutes until she was gone forever. My mate, ripped away by a killer before I could even get to know her. All I knew was her favourite colour. I didn’t know her favourite food. I didn’t know if she hated summer, or loathed the chill of winter. I didn’t know what she was like when she first woke in the morning, or if she liked to be held while she fell asleep at night. I didn’t know anything about her, only that she was brave and strong and resilient. Only that she was so beautiful it hurt, and she’d been treated so badly in the past that she couldn’t bear to trust her mates.

I scraped my hands down my face, hating that I couldn’t pretend everything was alright, hating that my emotions were so clear, pouring down my cheeks. Verne was better at hiding it, bustling around the cottage from bedroom to the kitchen to the living room, making sure she had a dozen different blankets, water that we could drip past her lips, and clean bandages and rags to change her wound dressings.

I pressed my lips together and didn’t say anything, even if I thought it was pointless. Even if I knew she was lost, and there was no hope. That was why I couldn’t take my eyes away. I had a limited time to look at her. My beautiful, brave mate who had been stolen from another world but conquered this one with such grace and courage and sarcasm.

I jumped when the door flew open, banging against the wall. It wasn’t just Lucira who poured through the open door; my mother and father were there too. At the sight of them, the tears that I’d managed to keep to a trickle burst like a dam. Sobs ripped my chest apart. My mate was dying. My mate was dying.

“How long has it been?” Lucira demanded, already in healer mode as she strode across the floor and knelt beside where Sadie lay on the sofa.

“Four hours,” Lainsz snapped. He’d been sitting next to Sadie all this time, pelting her with a mix of insults and challenges and remarks that would’ve made anyone else fade away faster. But what did I know, because Sadie was still here, still clinging to the faint thread of life. “What took you so fucking long?”